overspill

English

Etymology

over- +‎ spill

Noun

overspill (countable and uncountable, plural overspills)

1. That which spills over.

   New towns were constructed to accommodate overspill from established cities.

   • 1964 July, “News and Comment: The Broad Street-Richmond line”, in Modern Railways, page 17:

     It is known that means of using this end of the former NLR and Broad Street station to take an overspill of traffic from Liverpool Street have been under backroom study for some time.

Derived terms

• overspill estate

Verb

overspill (third-person singular simple present overspills, present participle overspilling, simple past and past participle overspilled or overspilt)

1. To spill over, to overflow, to spill out of.
   • 2002, Urlan Wannop, Regional Imperative: Regional Planning and Governance in Britain, page 93:

     Further, Coventry's prosperity and rapid growth was threatening that it as well as Birmingham would require to overspill its boundaries.

   • 2004, Delilah Devlin, Pirate's Desire, page 202:

     Calandra added more, until the oil threatened to overspill her palm.

Anagrams

• spill over, spillover